Beyond the Blast, Other Signals of Tougher (and Vain) North Korea

North Korea, as expected for months, blew up another nuclear explosive on Tuesday, an event that will shape how other countries deal with it for months, and perhaps years, to come.

But in recent days, some smaller developments also give weight to the emerging view that the Kim Jong Eun regime is taking a harder line with its opponents and doing all it can to reinforce attitudes of the Kim family’s superiority.

This time, it is Camp 25 that has grown exponentially. While the North’s other major prisons are far out in the mountains, Camp 25 is in the city of Chongjin on the northeast coast of the country.

By comparing new satellite photos to old ones, Mr. Melvin found that the camp has grown to encompass several hilly areas nearby and that many guardposts have been built on the expanded perimeter.

Reuters

A combination photo shows bronze statues of Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il at Mansudae in Pyongyang, in these photos taken and provided by Kyodo on December 2012, above, and February 10, 2013, below. Kim Jong Il’s coat has changed.

In other North Korean chatter, the defector-staffed Daily NK web site over the weekend posted pictures of a new Kim Jong Il statue on the big hill in Pyongyang called Mansudae. The old statue, of course, had stood for less than a year after joining one of Kim Il Sung, Mr. Kim’s father, that has been a destination for generations of North Koreans and tourists.

The new statue of Kim Jong Il appears to differ in one trait: the coat he’s wearing. Previously, the statue showed him in an overcoat like his father’s. But the new one depicts a jacket that appears to be flapping in the wind. Strikingly, the rest of the statue, including the head and shirt and pants, looks the same. That adds up to some serious construction work for a stylistic difference.

Finally, many news organizations took note of a video posted last week on the China-based, North Korean regime-supporting Web site Uriminzokkiri that borrowed images from an American video game to show the U.S. being destroyed. Martyn Williams at the North Korea Tech blog provided one report. But it turns out that’s just the tip of bashing of the U.S., South Korea and Japan that’s available on that site.

Luke Herman, regime researcher and the brains behind the NK Leadership database, recently produced a larger account of some of the wacky and wild games on Uriminzokkiri. Check out the cartoonish and violent games here.